I think you guys do need to tackle the balance issues at some point.   I'm hearing more criticism of the balance from friends/boards over criticism of what's under the hood.

The fundamental problem is there are too many automatic decisions.

How many free copies were claimed BTW?  Curious on that. 

How many players can the Anthys map comfortably fit?

100 000 is a fair amount sold. I don't know if it puts you past break-even but it sounds impressive if you take into account the diehard fans of the genre already owned E:wom.

Thx for info and good to hear you are pretty happy with the reviews. I´m not. Still can´t believe how different the reviewers weight the different parts of the game, than me. For example "bland lore" and "disconnected sov./champs". And all this "its a good game, but..." mostly very unspecific.

But hell, if you are happy thats fine. I only think your work/the game needs better reviews.

I hope that we can play with all factions (and still have time and room to expand) and every faction has his predefined starting location. So we can really play the World of Elemental.

I would love if we had the option of predefined starting locations for the map.  Would be awesome.

Word of month is just getting started.

There are VERY positive threads on both of the gaming forums I frequent (I did not start them. I am trying to be very supportive, though). 

As Stardock fixes problems, the threads will become more and more positive, and if the modding community picks Fallen Enchantress up, there will be a steady trickle of sales.  And later DLC, true extension packs, maybe a sequel.

I assume that Brad is not starving or living paycheck to paycheck, so he can afford to build good will to add to his company's already good reputation. 

What really should be focused on is monsters AI, diplomacy, and faction AI (not in order of importance, but it order of how easy it is to show marked improvement)

I was going to try and make some starting position ideas on stardock's image of the world of elemental, but the descriptions of where some cities are located (example Hagudst) are too vague to pin down. Not to mention black stead.

The good news is there is plenty of start locations for custom factions in the central wastes and "unknown" areas for the western side, and for the east the southern end of the continent occupied by yithril is rather unoccupied allowing a custom faction to settle up before discovery. Granted Im sure the landlord will be rather pissed on discovery since the land is claimed by Verga.

I suspect it could handle a couple dozen.

When we sold Impulse, finances kind of changed. The games have always been kind of a hobby for us but at this stage but at this point, it's purely about making a good game and having a good time while making it.

In other words, we're here for you guys. We have a blast talking to you guys and making the game better.

I'm not sure what automatic decisions there are.  I know Kael is constantly tweaking balance and I'm sure there will be plenty of that.  I'm a coder on the game, I don't really partake in balance that much.

As for free copies picked up, I really don't know. I'm sure there's a DB somewhere that has that.  We don't get sales info on that side.

1.1? Excellent news!

Good news all around it appears. I believe FE was released a couple of months too early and as I expected that hurt you on reviews but I'm very pleased to hear that it probably doesn't matter and you're still forging ahead. I certainly believe that with ongoing bug fixing and polishing FE will become a true classic.

I look forward to 1.1, and I enjoy actually feeling apart of the game discussions and design decisions.

What is the word on snaking? Are you bringing new mechanics here or allowing modders more control on these aspects.

City level-ups are pretty automatic right now, picking staves over bows when possible, among other things.   Scroll scribe, Strike Garrison are also no brainers.

He's right about automatic decisions of improving cities.  There's a thread here named Slums that goes into a few of the particulars--but in general, the feeling expressed there (and I've read, elsewhere) is that these are choices without meaning, since in most city level-ups there's only one good choice.  Perhaps I'll start a thread just on that.